Beach Mornings

The lights had just been turned off on the Manhattan Beach Pier, a little moonlight was still kissing the Pacific Ocean, and a surfer prepares to enter and embrace the morning waves. Photographed on the iPhone 7+ camera, and enhanced with Lightroom and Nik software.

Shot at 5:55 a.m., just at the tail end of when the city of Manhattan Beach turns off the lights on the Pier. Shot on an iPhone 7 Plus, with an accessory Moment wide-angle lens, and filterized in Google's Snapseed app and the Lightroom Mobile app.

In spring, 2017 I visited Japan for the first time, where I got to meet the photographer Dave Powell, who told me all about his Shoot Tokyo website, which he hosted right here on Smugmug,

I checked it out and fell in love. So much so, I contacted Smugmug from Japan--"Hey, I want my site to look like Dave Powell's! How do I do that?"

With the able assist from Smugmug's Sean Rogan and several months of work, we made it happen. Thanks Sean! And Dave for the inspiration.

Dave wanders around Tokyo with his Leica capturing amazing street life. Granted, Japan life is pretty wild and colorful compared to what we've got here in California.

I'm fortunate enough to live near the beach, where magic is made every morning. What a great way to awake--throw on some clothes, yank the iPhone and see how many different ways I can present the morning beauty of Manhattan Beach, California. It's a great challenge.

That's what this site is all about--along with showing off my USA TODAY portraits, other travel photos and the best of ten years of #TalkingTech videos.